News

Democracy — as we understand the term — began in ancient Athens.
Back before the invention of agriculture, when human tribes of hunter/gatherers followed the game herds across the landscape, those tribes had a primitive sort of democracy.
Hunting tribes that still exist in remote parts of the world still show that kind of organization. The male members of the tribe come together in a council to decide issues of importance. One man, one vote. Read the Rest...

A new nationwide analysis of 2,068 alleged election-fraud cases since 2000 shows that while fraud has occurred, the rate is infinitesimal, and in-person voter impersonation on Election Day, which prompted 37 state legislatures to enact or consider tough voter ID laws, is virtually non-existent. Read the Rest...

Revolutionary strategists must ask themselves: How can we best structure our own movement? And: What kind of political framework should we aim for, once we relegate the Banking-Militarist Complex to the dustbin of history? The answer to both questions is the same: genuine (or direct) democracy. Read the Rest...

In a recent bond election, some 7 percent of eligible San Antonians voted.
This is pretty much in line with recent voting history. In Dallas, for example, more people have attended a single professional baseball game than cast a ballot in primaries.
Is this democracy? Well, I think democracy is defined less by how many vote than who has a right to vote, and whether a government rules by consent of the people rather than by compulsion. The vast turnouts and huge majorities achieved by totalitarian regimes certainly do not represent “rule by the people.” Read the Rest...

I engaged a number of readers in opposition to last week's column to reform California's initiative process.
Some offered Proposition 13 as the primary reason the current system should remain intact.
Proposition 13 assessed property values at their 1975 value. Moreover, property tax increases on any given property were limited to no more than 2 percent annually as long as the property was not sold. Read the Rest...

A post on Occupy Baltimore led me to a Daily Pennsylvanian report that both the Occupy movement and something called the 99% Declaration Working Group plan summer conventions in Philadelphia over Fourth of July weekend. Read the Rest...

On June 5, a key culprit to California's chronic dysfunction will again be allowed, unencumbered, to add to the state's woes.
Who is this perpetrator responsible for gridlock and institutionalized deficits? That's right, it's we the voters.
For all our bemoaning the lawmakers in Sacramento, whose approval rating is slightly above Satan, we have institutionalized the dysfunction we claim to abhor by using the tool we commonly view as the savior to our democracy -- the initiative process. Read the Rest...